Category: peace

The Eleventh Hour: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace”

On By Anne LeonardIn 99%, ANTI WAR, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, Occupy America, Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, peace, Politics, RIght Wing Nuts, SUFFRAGE, Tea Party, WOMEN1 Comment

veterans-day-2013

Veteran’s Day, was originally commemorated as Armistice Day, “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.”

NYTimes-Page1-11-11-1918

Armistice Day–“The eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month”, in 1918, the major conflicts of World War I ended when the allies signed an armistice with Germany.

                    ‘November 11, 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the first commemoration of Armistice Day: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died  in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory… and because of the opportunity it has given  America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

On June 4, 1926, Congress passed a resolution “requesting that President  Coolidge issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies” (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) the act was approved May 13, 1938, making November 11, a legal holiday with the appropriate ceremonies “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”

 

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Veteran’s Day–Armistice Day morphed into Veteran’s Day- In 1945, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks from Birmingham, Alabama, who wanted Armistice Day to include all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Weeks led a delegation to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who supported the idea of National Veterans Day and signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954.

Remembrance Day/Poppy Day–is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day, or alternative dates,  are also recognized as special days for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

flandersfields

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem “In Flanders Fields“. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red color an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

References:

Front page NYT: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/NYTimes-Page1-11-11-1918.jpg/474px-NYTimes-Page1-11-11-1918.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

http://www.historyextra.com/remembrance

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm 

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GET OFF THE RAGG: Open Letter

On By Anne LeonardIn ANTI WAR, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, peace, Politics, Progressive, RIght Wing Nuts, SUFFRAGE, Tea Party, WOMENLeave a comment

Dear Radical Right Republicans, Tea Partiers, Birthers, Posers, and Hypocrites:

Have you no shame.  We have endless for-profit wars over oil, special interests ruling our Nation, and American’s struggling to live, but all you want to talk about is Religion, Abortion, Guns, and Gays.

Allow me to address your issues on a personal level:

I consider myself a Progressive.   Being a Progressive does not make me a ‘baby-killer’, a GUN BANNING fanatic, or a radical enemy combatant.

Now to address the CORNERSTONE issues of the Radical RIGHT:

(1) RELIGION

I tolerate all religions (and there are MANY) that celebrate the Golden Rule.   I am an Atheist.  I am not a god hater.  You cannot hate what you do not believe in.

(2) ABORTION

What a woman chooses to do with her body, is a decision for her to make, after seeking the advise of her physician.  I am PRO-CHOICE/PRO –LIFE.   That does not mean that I advocate FOR or AGAINST ABORTION.  I simply think that a woman should have the choice.

(3) GUNS

Guns (alone) don’t kill people. Guns in the wrong PEOPLE’S hands kill people (with some exceptions).  We simply need to keep the guns out of the hands of the bad guys and leave the good guys with guns alone.

(4) GAYS

You don’t become gay-you are born that way.  It’s not a disease.  You either are, or you aren’t.  It’s the way you’re made.  Marriage is between two people who love each other, period (not genitalia requisite).

I am not alone in my beliefs.  There are millions more like me.   So, Dear Radical Right Republicans, Tea Partiers, Birthers, and Haters, please keep this in mind when you spread your messages of hate.  The TRUTH may eventually set YOU free.

GET OFF THE R.A.G.G. -Humanity is calling.

Love and Peace.

The Protester IS the Person of the Year-Worldwide and growing.

On By Anne LeonardIn 99%, ANTI WAR, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, Occupy America, Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, peace, Politics, Progressive, SUFFRAGE, WOMEN1 Comment

VIA LEFT WING NUT JOB: Posted by Dusty on December 26, 2011 at 4:18

It started with a single, frustrated Tunisian named Mohamed Bouazizi, a man that just wanted to be able to feed his family, in the only manner he had available to him in a nation ruled by a dictator for decades ..selling fruit on a street corner. This year, Time did get it right.

“Death is CERTAIN”

On By Anne LeonardIn 99%, ANTI WAR, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, peace, Politics, ProgressiveLeave a comment
Christopher Hitchens
Image via Wikipedia

“I became a journalist because I did not want to rely on newspapers for information.”  Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens—the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant—died December 16, 2011,  at the age of 62.

Hitch is remembered for many brilliant accomplishments.  The following example is not the most notable.  It does, however,  showcase  his sheer intestinal fortitude for exposing hypocrisy; even if it meant calling out the now defunct commander-in-chief and the entire industrial military complex (bravo, Hitch!).

Christopher Hitchens, after subjecting himself to waterboarding in 2008, was one of the first outspoken critics of this type of particular torture.  He lasted for all of 16 seconds:

“It’s annoying to me now to read every time it’s discussed in the press or in Congress  that it simulates the feeling of drowning,” he said at the time. “It doesn’t simulate the feeling of drowning. You are being drowned, slowly.”

Hitchens’ exposure to waterboarding was brief and intense- similar to his legacy… that will, without a doubt, out live us all.

READ MORE ABOUT CHRISTOPHER:

NATION

VANCOUVER SUN

UPCOMING MEMOIRS

NEW YORK TIMES

Rosa Parks, Civil Rights Icon

On By Anne LeonardIn EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, peace, Politics, SUFFRAGE, WOMEN1 Comment

Dec 1, 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white person; her arrest ignites the Montgomery Bus Boycott (National Women’s History Project).

Rosa Louise Parks was nationally recognized as the “mother of the modern day civil rights movement” in America. Her refusal to surrender her seat to a white male passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, December 1, 1955, triggered a wave of protest December 5, 1955 that reverberated throughout the United States. Her quiet courageous act changed America, its view of black people and redirected the course of history. Read More Here

Who’s Wrecking America? Meet Your 1% Nominee

On By Anne LeonardIn 99%, ANTI WAR, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, Occupy America, Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, peace, Politics, RIght Wing Nuts, Tea Party, WOMEN1 Comment
Now you can vote on some of the most infamous members of the 1% — financial fraudsters, union-busters, weapons contractors, and more.

 The Occupy movement has drawn attention to how too many in the 1% get to play by their own rules while exploiting the 99%. But who’s doing the most to damage our economy and democracy?

We at Brave New Foundation have launched a website where you can vote on some of the most infamous members of the 1% — financial fraudsters, union-busters, weapons contractors, and more. Then we’ll make a series of videos exposing the ones that you rank as the very worst. As our friends at Fox News might put it: We film. You decide.

TIME TO ELECT A NEW CONGRESS REFLECTIVE OF THE 99%

On By Anne LeonardIn 99%, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, Occupy America, Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, peace, Politics, RIght Wing Nuts, Tea PartyLeave a comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Michael Beckel, 202-354-0108 or press@crp.org

These days, being a millionaire typically qualifies you as part of the one percent. But in Congress, it only makes you average.

About 47 percent of Congress, or 250* current members of Congress, are millionaires, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics of lawmakers’ personal financial disclosure forms covering calendar year 2010. The Center’s analysis is based on the median values of lawmakers’ disclosed assets and liabilities.

That lofty financial status is enjoyed by only about one percent of Americans.

“The vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable, financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

“It’s no surprise that so many people grumble about lawmakers being out-of-touch,” Krumholz continued. “Few Americans enjoy the same financial cushion maintained by most members of Congress — or the same access to market-altering information that could yield personal financial gains.”
READ THE ENTIRE STORY HERE

Blood Soaked, Tattered, and Torn…

On By Anne LeonardIn 99%, ANTI WAR, Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, Occupy America, Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, peace, Politics, RIght Wing Nuts, SUFFRAGE, Tea Party, WOMEN1 Comment

Veteran’s Day is designated as a national day of commemoration honoring peace and sacrifice:

‘November 11, 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the first commemoration of Armistice Day: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory… and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

America and her sympathy with peace and justice are failing. Peace is now an afterthought.

Soldiers (some far nobler than our country’s war mongering profiteers) are marched into horrific circumstances with a stroke of a bureaucratic pen. Many brave men and women enlist with honorable intentions; many left to die… abandoned by the Government, of the country they swore to protect. Freedom, it seems, diminishes profit margins. War is good business to the real tyrants-the war profiteers. On the horizon, the silhouette of a once great nation remains, reduced to a nation divided, misguided, and woeful. A nation subdued by the ills of war, blinded by the industrial military complex as it wages perpetual wars for profit at the expense of humanity.

A Government’s wars, cloaked in the blood soaked sacramental cloth that bears the stars and stripes of our heritage. Yet, as fate would have it, history inked with the blood of the noble, the innocent, and the evil, is of great consequence to those who hope to one day acquiesce to a peaceful state of existence.

Wars are a part of history that should not be repeated. If only our leaders would concede that mistakes have been made, damage has been done, and lessons were learned. But, lessons have not been learned, history repeats itself, and the wars continue.

Today as we contemplate sacrifice, contemplate the reflection in the mirror of humanity. – Annie

“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.” D. Lama

W.E. Whitmore

“Who stole the soul-And who stole the heart
And who took the spark from inside of me…
Why can’t I breathe…

And I’m afraid they won’t stop…’til all the poets have failed;
Til all the good men are jailed for nothin’ at all
Who let them take the fall…

And they’ll bring devastation; And call it diplomacy…
But an occupation won’t bring a nation to peace

Oh and I’m so ashamed, in these things beyond value; that we cherish so dear
I won’t let them go. No I won’t let them go…”

Neither will I…

Neither will I

– Annie

When Ann Coulter tells the truth – Opinion – Al Jazeera English

On By Anne LeonardIn Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Justice, Liberals, peace, Politics, RIght Wing Nuts, Tea Party, WOMEN1 Comment

“I stepped in a pile of Ann Coulter’s insignificance and tracked it in the house. Here’s whats left of the mess.”- Annie

 

 

Via Al Jazeera:  Everyone’s going after Ann Coulter – and rightly so – for her racist comments on the “Hannity” show. Asked why liberals and Democrats are up in arms over the sexual harassment allegations that have been levelled against GOP candidate Herman Cain, Coulter said:

“Our blacks are so much better than their blacks. To become a black Republican, you don’t just roll into it. You’re not going with the flow…”

That “our blacks” is especially gruesome. Sounds like the proprietary claim a fancy housewife would make, ca. 1960 (or 1860), about her black maid: “my girl” or something like that.

But if you can suspend disbelief – or disgust – for a minute, there’s something in what Coulter is saying that’s worth paying attention to, for it unwittingly reveals a deep truth about conservatism. Not its racism, but something else. Read more…

When Ann Coulter tells the truth – Opinion – Al Jazeera English.